Yikes! I messed up a cemetery category. How to fix???

Question

Another member corrected a cemetery category on a profile I manage and added the county to the category.  I wrote him that it was incorrect per guidelines, and put it back to original cemetery category without the county name.

I decided to go check others in that family line and discovered it was I who made the original mistake.  When I set up the cemetery category years ago, I included the county name.  Every profile associated with that cemetery is now in the category with the county name included.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Oak_City_Cemetery%2C_Bainbridge%2C_Decatur_County%2C_Georgia

What is the easiest way to fix this?

Comments

My bad, I guess (or not...).

I was struggling to find the right category for some of my profiles.

I spent the morning rummaging through the state of Georgia, to find that only about half of the cemeteries I was interested in were categorized.

Some of the category pages didn't have links to FAG so I had to look up a profile then find their FAG entry to get the actual cemetery, and some did not match up. That is when I started to try and fix a few, using what already existed. There are a few with misspellings (Georga instead of Georgia) and several practically duplicates due to one using the county name and the other not.

I started to make a translation table (FAG to Category) but it is a HUGE chore.

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You can also google the cemetery to see if it is still an actively-used cemetery to get further information. Cities/towns often maintain their own cemetery (like where I live: Mountain View Cemetery in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts) and will provide location information, etc. Churches also often have associated cemeteries and have information.

Bear in mind that the cemetery pages on Find A Grave were also created by volunteers and can contain errors. There are also duplicated cemeteries. The admin tries to stay on top of it, but some cemetery corrections I have submitted in the past took months to be implemented, then a new user duplicated the cemetery YET AGAIN.

I applaud your efforts to get things right, Gilbert.

Answer 1

Editbot would be the easiest thing. I have done manual changes in the past, which can take awhile.

First, you must create the correct category. Then you use Rename Category.

I've done these things. Now we wait for editbot.

Answer 2

If there are more than a handful of profiles in the category with the county included, it's easier to leave it as it is.  There are many cemeteries that are only county and state and were that way until recently when Find A Grave changed its format.  To go back and change them all just because Find A Grave changed is impractical.  And, besides, your profile of the cemetery is wonderful.

I think most people who categorize cemeteries on their profiles know to check and see which is the most common labeling for the category.  Of course, I'm only one person and others may see it differently but I think it's OK as it is.

Comments

Easier, yes, but it's incorrect, and it has nothing to do with Find a Grave. The profile of the cemetery on the free space will not need to change, just the category.

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Natalie, will edit bot pick up on the error on the cemetery free space page also?  If not, how do I change it there?

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Thanks, Saundra.  I appreciate the support, but I know Natalie is right.  I just didn't know if there was a way to correct it without going profile by profile to do so.

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Editbot should do that, but I already changed it.

Editbot renames the category, so every profile attached to it gets the new name. Verified by EditBot's "boss" Aleš Trtnik

Answer 3

When I joined the cemetery project I was given an example, that example included the county. I always include the county and prefer it that way.

Comments

Normally, you only include the town or the county, not both, unless there are multiple towns with the same name in that state.

Generally, I do not create categories for the town unless it is an incorporated town with more than a handful of cemeteries.

Furthermore, you only add the township if there are more than one cemetery with that same name in the same county and state.

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Also if the cemetery is not in any town, so there's only the county to identify the location. Unless that's the case, the policy is to put cemetery name, town, state. If people start making up their own personal preferred variations, it can predictably lead to proliferation and confusion.

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P.S. I'm don't understand what you mean by "Generally, I do not create categories for the town unless it is an incorporated town with more than a handful of cemeteries." Would you mind explaining a bit more?